Ocean cruise newbuilding delivery and orderbook updates

While megaship construction orders still drive the expansion of the orderbook, the expedition segment is quietly making a comeback.

Steady commitment to the supply-led business model, improved financial performances, and an always-strong desire to increase market share have prompted major cruise brands, in recent months, to shift up a gear in placing megaship construction orders.

At the same time, the temporary overcapacity situation in the expedition segment has ended. The longer-term demand for polar itineraries looks firm. Lead players in this field are also vying to build new ships, including new classes of bigger ships, to exert greater control of the increasingly competitive marketplace.

In the last decade, barring the two pandemic seasons, Antarctic visitor numbers have increased by an average of 20% annually. The forecast for the 2025–26 season, based on current indicators, is a slower 5% increase because of the less favourable global economic and geopolitical situations.

There is also urgency for tonnage renewal in this segment, as 30% of expedition vessels are now at least 30 years old.

Source: IAATO

Steady stream

Newbuildings have continued to be delivered in a steady stream. Following our November 2025 updates, two more units were handed over to their owners during the remainder of last year. Both ships were delivered on the same day.

On 16 December, Portugal’s West Sea Viana delivered the 224-passenger expedition vessel Star Seeker to Windstar Cruises. This was the last newbuild ordered by Mystic Invest, which ended its current association with the Portuguese shipbuilder in favour of China Merchants Industry, which now has the biggest orderbook in the small-ship segment.

On the same day, Disney Cruise Line took delivery of its biggest ship yet, the 208,000-gross-ton Disney Adventure. The ship was originally intended for the now-defunct Dream Cruises. This larger newbuild also signalled the brand’s diversification in its product offering.

Overall, 2025 was a much better year in terms of adding newbuilding capacity. In total, 39,370 lower berths were added to the global fleet, compared to 21,212 in 2024, an 85.6% improvement. During the year, only one vessel of 132 lower berths, SunStone Ships’ 1986-built Ocean Atlantic, was sent to the demolition yard. This resulted in a net capacity gain of 39,238 lower berths.

Unremarkable year

Judging by the content of the current orderbook, 2026 will not be a record-breaking year for newbuildings. It seems that, in the short term, delivery volumes will remain modest. This is probably due to the lingering Covid-19 effect – the low number of orders placed in the years during and immediately after the pandemic. The longer-term prospect, however, looks much brighter.

No newbuilds were delivered in the first two months of 2026. On 5 March, Norwegian Cruise Line took delivery of the 154,140-gross-ton Norwegian Luna, a sister vessel of the 2025-built Norwegian Aqua, the second of the company’s Prima Plus-class vessels, and the industry’s first newbuild of the year.

The current orderbook indicates that 15 more newbuildings, totalling about 28,800 lower berths, are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026 if no delays occur – not as good a year as 2025.

But beyond 2026, the situation will gradually improve, as a significant number of new construction orders have been placed, and more are expected.

By the beginning of March 2026, the orderbook had swollen to an estimated 220,000 lower berths, about 16% larger than a year earlier.

Ocean cruise newbuildings delivered in 2025

Source: CruiseTimes Research

Source: CruiseTimes Research

Larger ships

What truly underpins the latest orderbook development are the megaship orders, which have been placed in substantial numbers.

On 15 December 2025, MSC Cruises inked an order with Meyer Werft for four 180,000-gross-ton Frontier-class newbuilds. The order came with two options. The vessels will be delivered on a one-unit-per-year basis from 2030. Choosing to build megaships at Meyer Werft was a departure for MSC. The group had hitherto partnered with Chantiers de l’Atlantique, where it still had six vessels outstanding.

When publishing its full-year 2025 financial performance results, Royal Caribbean Group announced that it had placed an order for two new Discovery-class vessels with Chantiers de l’Atlantique for 2029 and 2032 deliveries. The order came with options for four more units. No details on size and design of the vessels have been revealed yet.

In mid-February, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings placed an additional three-ship order at Fincantieri for its existing series, one for each of its three brands: a fifth 227,000-gross-ton New-class vessel for Norwegian Cruise Line, a fifth Sonata-class vessel for Oceania Cruises, and a fourth Prestige-class unit for Regent Seven Seas. These orders stretch the orderbook to 2037.

Rapid strides

There have also been significant developments in expedition vessel orders, showing the segment’s unmistakable vibrancy.

In the beginning of December, Cyprus-based Ocean Advice – a subsidiary of Swiss-based United Waterways, known as a provider of modular white-label management services for both ocean and river vessels – signed an eight-slot agreement with China Merchant Heavy Industry for the construction of four 186-passenger expedition vessels and four coastal cruise ships for 2028–29 delivery. The group has plans for up to 12 newbuilds. It is positioning itself as a credible tonnage provider in the expedition segment, in the same way as it has been in the river cruise business.

Within days, it was announced that Mystics Invest and China Merchants Shipbuilding reached an agreement to build a dual-fuel 404-passenger expedition vessel for its Atlas Ocean Voyages brand. The order came with three options. Mystic’s new ship will be of similar size and capacity to the two Viking Expeditions 378-passenger vessels, the 2022-built Viking Polaris and 2021-built Viking Octantis.

On 3 March, publishing its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results, Viking Holdings announced it had ordered two more expedition vessels of this class from Fincantieri for 2030 and 2031 deliveries. At the same time, the group secured two more options for its standard 998-passenger ocean cruise ships.

Source: CruiseTimes Research

*The figures for 19 March 2026 are estimated because details of some orders are not yet revealed.

A perspective

Reflecting on the trend in the expedition segment, we note that Viking’s expedition vessels and Mystic’s planned newbuild(s) are a departure from the standard-size, custom-built expedition cruise vessels, such as those operated by Ponant and Lindblad Expeditions.

In response to rising demand and anticipated larger volumes of polar visitors, Viking and Mystic have taken a bigger-ship option. This may represent a risk, as, for example, there are limits imposed on the number of visitors landing on Antarctica each day.

But they have thought this out. Several strategic measures can be taken to mitigate the challenge. As the boundaries between luxury/ultra-luxury and expedition cruise segments blur, these vessels can be deployed in both markets. Mystic’s Atlas Ocean Voyages has already positioned itself as a boutique “luxe adventure” brand. These vessels are also suitable for deployment in the upper-premium market. Moreover, to sidestep the Antarctic footprint limit, the ships can offer no-landing cruises.

Viking’s two existing expedition vessels have already proven their worth, in both demand and revenue generation. In any case, we may be in the early stages of an era of larger polar expedition cruise ships, supplanting the traditional 100–200-passenger vessels with the ones twice their size.

Ocean cruise newbuilding orderbook on 19 March 2026 (140,000 gross tons and above)

Source: CruiseTimes Research

Ocean cruise newbuilding orderbook on 19 March 2026 (45,000–139,999 gross tons)

Source: CruiseTimes Research

Ocean cruise newbuilding orderbook on 19 March 2026 (small, upscale, & expedition)

Source: CruiseTimes Research